Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 1).djvu/346

318 in several new characters, such as Roderick Dhu, Selim, Richard II., Penruddock, Falkland in &ldquo;The Rivals,&rdquo; and Luke in &ldquo;Riches.&rdquo; In January, 1832, he appeared in the Chestnut street theatre, Philadelphia, in &ldquo;Sertorius,&rdquo; a new play, by the Philadelphia lawyer, David Paul Brown. The death of two of his children robbed him for a time of his reason, and after his recovery an engagement, made with the actor Hamblin, for Richmond, was renewed for the Bowery theatre, New York. He next played in New Orleans and Mobile, and on a tour through the west, during which, and from that time forth, his mental disorder, slight attacks of which had occurred in earlier years, returned with increasing frequency and severity. As he grew older his partial insanity was aggravated by intemperance. After playing Shylock for eight nights to crowded houses at the National theatre, New York, and visiting Baltimore and Philadelphia, he sailed, in October, 1836, for Europe with his family, played Richard and Iago at Drury lane theatre, and in Birmingham, where he was prostrated with the news of the death of his favorite son, Henry Byron, in London, from small-pox. He immediately returned to the United States, and in the autumn of 1837 performed at the Olympic in New York, afterward sailed for the south on a professional tour, and during the voyage attempted suicide in a moment of aberration. On the same trip his nose was broken, impairing the beauty of his face and his rich tones of voice; but in the course of two years he regained the strength and scope of his vocal organs. During the last ten years of his life he spent much of his time with his family, residing in Baltimore, and only visiting his farm in the heat of summer. He played when and where he pleased, often in small, out-of-the-way theatres, but made annual visits to New Orleans and Boston, where he was an established favorite. In 1850 and the succeeding season he played at the National theatre, New York, and made his last appearance in that city on 19 Sept., 1851. In 1851 he performed several parts at the Chestnut street theatre, Philadelphia, and in the spring of 1852, with his son Edwin (Junius Brutus had previously gone thither), he went to California, playing to crowded houses in San Francisco with Edwin in companion characters. Leaving his sons, he returned to the east with the intention of retiring completely from the stage. Arriving at New Orleans in November, he performed six nights with his usual ability, but contracted a cold, and during his passage up the Mississippi river remained in his state-room, suffering from fever and dysentery, and died for lack of medical care. See Asia Booth Clarke's &ldquo;The Elder and the Younger Booth&rdquo; in the American Actor Series (Boston, 1882); Genest's &ldquo;History of the Stage&rdquo;; and &ldquo;Booth Memorials,&rdquo; by his daughter Asia (New York, 1866). &mdash; His son, Edwin, actor, b. in Bel Air, Md., 13 Nov., 1833; d. in New York, 7 June, 1893, was named Edwin Thomas, in compliment to his father's friends, Edwin Forrest and Thomas Flynn. When a boy he received instruction from different teachers near his home; but this tuition was neither continuous nor thorough. He was thoughtful and studious, and made much of his limited opportunities. He was reticent and singular, profound and sensitive, and the eccentric genius of the elder Booth found in him an object of peculiar sympathy. The father and son were fondly attached to each other from the first, and while Edwin was yet very young his father made a companion of him in professional journeys. It was in the course of one of these tours that Edwin

Booth made his first regular appearance upon the stage, at the Boston Museum, on 10 Sept., 1849. The play was Cibber's version of Shakespeare's &ldquo;Richard III.,&rdquo; and the youth came forward in the little part of Tressil. At first the elder Booth opposed his son's choice of the stage, but ultimately he relinquished his opposition. The boy persevered, and presently, still acting in his father's train, he appeared at Providence, R. I., at Philadelphia, and at other places, as Cassio in &ldquo;Othello,&rdquo; and as Wilford in &ldquo;The Iron Chest&rdquo; &mdash; the latter impersonation being deemed particularly good. Edwin Booth continued to act with his father for more than two years after the advent at the Boston Museum. His first appearance on the New York stage was on 27 Sept., 1850, at the National theatre, Chatham street, as Wilford. At the same theatre, in 1851, his father being ill, he suddenly and promptly took the place of the elder tragedian, and for the first time in his life enacted Richard III. This effort, remarkably successful for a comparative novice, was hailed as the indication of great talent and as the augury of a brilliant future. In the summer of 1852 he accompanied his father to San Francisco, where his elder brother, J. B. Booth, Jr., had already established himself as an actor and a theatrical manager, and where the three now acted in company. Other cities were visited by them, and the elder Booth remained in California for about three months. One night, at Sacramento, seeing Edwin dressed for Jaffier in &ldquo;Venice Preserved,&rdquo; he said to him: &ldquo;You look like Hamlet; why don't you play it?&rdquo; a remark that the younger Booth had good reason to remember, for no actor has ever played Hamlet so often or over so wide a range of territory. Just as the name of Junius Brutus Booth is inseparably associated with Richard III., so the name of Edwin Booth is inseparably associated with Hamlet. In October, 1852, the father and son parted for the last time. The California period of Edwin Booth's professional career lasted from the summer of 1852 till the autumn of 1856, and included a trip to Australia. The young actor at first played parts of all kinds, and he had a severe experience of poverty and hardship. Soon, however, he began to display uncommon merit, and thereupon to attract uncommon admiration. One of his earliest and best successes was obtained as Sir Edward Mortimer in &ldquo;The Iron Chest.&rdquo; For a time, indeed, he travelled in California, conveying his wardrobe for this piece in a trunk fashioned and painted to resemble a chest made of iron. His trip to Australia, in 1854, was made with a dramatic company that included the popular actress Miss Laura Keene as leading woman. Previous to this he had, in his brother's theatre at San Francisco, acted Richard III., Shylock, Macbeth, and Hamlet, had made an extraordinary